Law work and clerkship (2015–2017) After graduating from Harvard, Mailman moved to
Denver and worked for a law firm. She clerked in the
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit for
Timothy Tymkovich from 2016 to 2017.
Political advisorship (2017–2021) By April 2017, Davis had been named as an assistant staff secretary in the
White House. That month, she was honored by the National Association of Asian Pacifics in Politics and Public Affairs in its "40 Under 40" list. By June 2018, Davis had been named special assistant to the president and associate staff secretary; that month, she was named deputy assistant to the president and deputy policy coordinator. In April 2019,
The Washington Post reported that Davis had written an email to
U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and
Department of Homeland Security officials in November—amid
an incoming caravan of migrants—discussing a proposal releasing migrants to
sanctuary cities. Davis began working in the
Office of White House Counsel prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Emails released by the
House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in April 2022 showed that Davis sought to remove guidance from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising churches to hold religious services virtually in May 2020.
Deputy solicitor general of Ohio (2021–2023) Davis resigned from her White House position in the days after the
January 6 Capitol attack. By March 2021, she had begun serving as the deputy
solicitor general of Ohio. That month, Davis had got engaged to David Mailman, a former professional baseball player. The two moved to
Houston, got married in June, and had three children. May served as director of the
Tenth Amendment Center for
Ohio. She had left both roles by July 2023.
Independent Women's Forum (2023–2025) In February 2021, Davis was named as a fellow of the
Independent Women's Forum. She had become the group's senior legal fellow by April 2023 and—after serving as vice president of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections—was named as the director of the Independent Women's Law Center in January 2024. Mailman opposed president
Joe Biden's revised
Title IX rules that
redefined gender identity and stated that the organization would sue the administration. She served as the head of
RBG PAC, a
super PAC that used over $20,000,000 donated by
Elon Musk to run advertisements that targeted women between the ages of 18 and 45, seeking to associate
Supreme Court justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's stance on
abortion with
Donald Trump's stance.
Senior policy strategist (January 2025–February 2026) On January 18, 2025, Mailman was named as
deputy assistant to the president and senior policy strategist. According to
The New York Times, she assisted the
Trump administration in forming
its education policy and encouraged attorney general
Pam Bondi to prosecute doctors who perform
gender-affirming surgeries using a law against
genital mutilation. In May,
CNN reported that several universities had privately began to negotiate with Mailman to avoid punitive action from the Trump administration. Mailman was involved in negotiations to secure settlement agreements with
Columbia University,
Brown University,
Cornell University,
Northwestern University, and
Harvard University, among other schools.
Post-government work (2026–present) On August 3, 2025,
CBS News reported that Mailman had left the Trump administration two days prior to start her own government affairs firm. In February 2026,
Mother Jones reported that she was continuing to negotiate on behalf of the Trump administration in its dispute with Harvard University. ==References==